Chapter 681
"Has he gone?"
Luna’s voice was barely above a whisper when she asked the question.
Valerie remained silent for a moment. She was still holding the phone, and Amanda could hear enough through the speaker to understand that Luna already knew the answer. She had only asked because some part of her still hoped Valerie would say no.
"He has," Valerie finally said. "Max and Bella went with him. Felix stayed behind."
Luna closed her eyes.
For several seconds, she did not speak.
The room around her was quiet. Her parents’ house had always been one of the few places where she could come when she needed to escape the noise of her career, the company, or the public. Jennifer was in the next room with her grandmother, safe and unaware of what was happening.
Luna had spent the last several hours trying to convince herself that the worst part was over.
Jennifer was home.
That should have been enough.
But now Dayo was gone that scared her more than she wants to admit.
Amanda watched her carefully from the other side of the room. She had known Luna long enough to recognize when she was angry, when she was hurt, and when she was trying to hide both.
This was different.
Luna looked frightened.
"I have to stop him," she said.
Her mother, who had been sitting quietly nearby, looked up. "Stop who?"
Luna looked toward the hallway before answering. She lowered her voice even though there was no reason to.
"Dayo."
Her mother stared at her for a moment. "What has he done?"
"He’s going after Michael and Silas."
The names meant little to her mother compared with what they meant to Luna. She knew enough to understand that they were the men connected to what had happened to Jennifer, but she did not know what Dayo was planning.
Luna stood.
"I can’t explain everything right now. I just have to go."
Her mother rose too. "Luna, where are you going?"
"I’ll be back."
"You cannot just say that and leave."
"I know." Luna’s voice cracked slightly before she steadied herself. "I know, Mum. But I have to do this."
Amanda got up as well. "I’ll go with you."
Luna turned toward her.
"Please."
Amanda did not ask anything else. She picked up her bag while Luna checked on Jennifer one more time.
Her daughter was lying comfortably in her grandmother’s arms, completely unaware that both her parents were falling apart in different parts of the city.
Luna stood at the doorway for a few seconds.
She wanted to go in.
She wanted to hold Jennifer.
Instead, she forced herself to leave.
"Take care of her for me," she told her mother.
Her mother gave her a worried look. "Of course I will."
Luna nodded and walked out.
The moment she reached the car, she pulled out her phone.
There was one application on it that she had almost forgotten existed.
It had been created years ago.
Dayo had built it for them during one of the periods when their relationship was still new and they were both laughing too much over things that seemed important at the time. He had been experimenting with different systems and had created a private tracking application that linked their devices.
At the time, Luna had laughed at him.
She had told him she did not need to know where he was every second of the day.
Dayo had told her it was not about spying on each other. It was simply something they could use if they ever needed to find one another.
She had never expected to actually need it.
Now she opened it.
The map loaded.
A single marker appeared.
Luna stared at the location.
The IRS facility.
Her stomach tightened.
"He went there," she whispered.
Amanda looked over from the passenger seat. "You’re sure?"
Luna nodded. "The app is showing his location."
She started the car.
Amanda reached for her seat belt. "Luna, slow down."
"I know."
"You are shaking."
"I know but I can’t help it."
Luna pulled out of the driveway.
She did not say anything else for several minutes.
As the city passed outside the windows, memories kept coming back whether she wanted them or not.
Dayo standing beside her when she could barely finish a recording session.
The first time he had told her that the problem was not her voice but the music she was forcing herself to make.
The sessions where he had sat with her for hours, trying different sounds until something finally felt right.
The first time she had sung one of those songs and realized she actually liked what she was hearing.
The night they had finally admitted what had been growing between them.
The years after that.
Her career.
His career.
Jennifer.
Their home.
Everything they had built and how much they have suffered.
Dayo had been there through almost every important change in her life.
He had pushed her when she needed it.
Supported her when she was exhausted.
Stayed when things became difficult.
Even when she was pregnant and terrified about what would happen to her career, he had never made her feel as though she had become less important.
And now she had looked at him and told him he had no right to hold his own daughter.
Luna’s eyes filled.
She wiped them quickly.
Amanda noticed but said nothing.
"I was angry," Luna said eventually.
Amanda kept her eyes on the road ahead. "I know."
"I still am."
"I know."
Luna swallowed.
"But I didn’t mean..."
She stopped.
There was no point finishing the sentence.
She had meant it when she said it.
That was the part that hurt most.
The anger had been real.
So had the words.
And now she was terrified of what those words had pushed him toward.
Dayo’s car appeared on the tracking screen.
Luna slowed down as they approached the area around the IRS facility.
She did not want to drive directly toward him.
Instead, she stopped several spaces behind the vehicle once she saw it parked near the road.
Amanda looked at her.
"That’s him?"
Luna nodded.
Dayo’s car was still.
Luna remained behind the wheel for several seconds, trying to find the right words.
She had no idea what she was going to say.
She only knew that she had to try.
Inside Dayo’s car, Max was looking over the area while Bella studied the building from the passenger side.
The IRS facility was not completely unprotected. There were cameras, controlled entrances, guards, and regular patrols. But compared with the police station where Michael was being held, there were fewer obvious layers between them and Silas.
That was why Dayo had chosen it.
Max leaned slightly forward.
"The rear side has less activity," he said. "But there are still cameras covering the entrance."
Bella checked the information on the tablet in her hand. "The shift change gives us a smaller window."
Dayo listened without speaking.
His eyes remained on the building.
"We don’t rush it," he said. "If something doesn’t look right, we stop."
Max glanced at him. "And if everything looks right?"
Dayo did not answer immediately.
Bella looked at him.
"We go in," he said.
Neither of them questioned what would happen after that.
They had already seen enough of Dayo’s anger to know where this was heading.
A vehicle stopped several spaces behind them.
Max noticed it first.
"Someone just parked behind us."
Bella looked through the mirror.
Dayo turned slightly.
"Do you know the car?"
"No."
Max’s hand moved toward the equipment beside him.
Dayo looked at him.
"Relax."
"Sir..."
"Just wait."
The three of them stayed still.
A few seconds passed.
Then there was a knock against the window.
Dayo turned.
Luna was standing outside.
For the first time since leaving the house, something moved across his face.
An expression on his cold hard face.
He had not expected her.
Not here.
Not now.
He looked at Max and Bella.
"Stay here."
Dayo opened the door and stepped outside.
Luna stood a few feet away.
Neither of them spoke.
She had imagined this moment during the drive. She had thought about what she would say, how she would explain herself, how she would apologize.
Now that she was standing in front of him, most of those words disappeared.
Dayo simply looked at her.
His face was calm.
Too calm.
Luna stared at him for a moment before speaking.
"You’re not going to say anything?"
Dayo’s voice was quiet. "What exactly do you want me to say?"
She looked down briefly. "I know what you’re going to do."
"And?" He asked without any hint of struggle.
The answer hurt more than she expected.
Luna forced herself to continue. "I know I’m one of the reasons you’re doing this."
Dayo’s expression did not change.
"No."
She looked at him.
"I’m not doing this because of you."
There was a pause.
"I’m doing it because of Jennifer."
Luna felt the words settle heavily between them.
She had expected anger.
She had expected an argument.
She had even expected him to blame her.
Instead, he had separated her from the decision completely.
That somehow hurt more.
"I know," she said quietly.
Dayo waited.
Luna looked at the building behind him and then back at his face.
"I don’t like having this conversation with you right now," she said. "I’m still angry with you. I’m still angry about everything that happened. I’m still angry that Jennifer was put in danger. I’m angry that you kept so much from me and that you keep acting like you have to carry everything yourself."
Dayo looked away for a moment.
Luna continued before she lost the courage to speak.
"But I don’t want you to do this."
Her voice became softer.
"I don’t want you to go inside there."
Dayo said nothing.
"If you do this and they catch you, what happens?" she asked. "You go to prison. Jennifer loses her father. I lose you. Your family loses you. Everything you’ve spent years building is gone."
She stopped and took a breath.
"I know you are angry. I know you want them to pay for what they did. I know you probably think you can handle it."
Dayo finally looked directly at her.
Luna’s eyes were wet now.
"But please think about Jennifer."
The name changed something in the silence.
"Think about her growing up and knowing her father was taken away because he went after the people who kidnapped her. Think about her asking why you aren’t there. Think about her needing you and you not being able to come home."
Dayo’s expression remained controlled, but he did not look away.
Luna stepped closer.
"I know what you’re capable of," she said. "Maybe that’s what scares me most. I know you can probably do what you’re planning and maybe even get away with it. But that doesn’t mean nothing happens afterward."
Her voice broke slightly.
"It changes everything."
Dayo remained silent.
Luna wiped her cheek with the back of her hand.
"I know I hurt you."
He did not answer.
"I know what I said to you was terrible."
Her voice dropped.
"When I said she was my daughter, I was angry. I was hurt. I wanted to make you feel something because I felt like you weren’t hearing me."
She swallowed.
"But she’s your daughter too."
That was the first time Dayo looked away.
Luna continued.
"I don’t want to lose you."
Dayo’s eyes remained on the road.
She took another breath.
"So please. For my sake, for your sake, and for Jennifer’s sake, don’t do this."
He finally spoke.
"You think I’m going to change my mind because you’re asking?"
"No," Luna said. "I think you’re going to change your mind because you’re her father."
Dayo said nothing.
Luna stood there for another few seconds before forcing herself to say the one thing she had been afraid to say.
"If you go ahead with this, I will make sure you don’t see her again."
Dayo turned toward her.
"Is that a threat?"
"No."
Luna shook her head immediately.
"It’s not a threat. It’s reality."
Her voice was unsteady, but she did not take the words back.
"I know you’re angry. I know what happens when you get angry. But I’m asking you to stop before this becomes something Jennifer has to live with."
She looked at him carefully.
"Please picture her face. Picture her growing up without you. Picture her asking me where her father is."
Luna’s voice became almost a whisper.
"I don’t want to answer that question."
Dayo stood silently.
For a long moment, neither of them moved.
Luna had said everything she came to say.
She did not know whether it had reached him.
Eventually, she stepped back.
"I have to go."
Dayo looked at her.
Luna waited, almost hoping he would say something that would make the distance between them smaller.
He didn’t.
She turned and walked back toward her car.
Dayo watched until she reached it.
Only then did he look toward the IRS facility again.
Max and Bella were still inside the vehicle.
Neither had heard every word, but they had heard enough.
Dayo opened the driver’s door and got back inside.
Max waited a moment before speaking.
"Sir..."
Dayo looked at him.
Max hesitated. "Are we still going ahead with the plan?"
Bella remained quiet beside him.
Dayo looked through the windshield.
The building was still there.
The plan was still possible.
Michael and Silas were still inside the system that had brought Jennifer into danger.
For several seconds, Dayo said nothing.
Then he looked at Max.
"Give me one minute."
Max nodded.
Dayo sat alone with the decision.
He could still go.
He could still push forward.
Nothing had physically stopped him.
But Luna’s words had reached the one place his anger could not completely silence.
Jennifer.
He remembered her sleeping safely at her grandparents’ house.
He remembered holding her after the rescue.
He remembered how small she had felt in his arms.
Dayo closed his eyes for a moment.
When he opened them again, the decision was made.
"No."
Max and Bella looked at him.
Dayo started the engine.
"We’re not doing it."
Neither of them spoke immediately.
They had expected it.
Part of the conversation outside had reached them, and even without hearing everything, they understood why the plan had changed.
Max leaned back into his seat.
"Understood, sir."
Bella looked toward Dayo for a moment before turning back to the road.
Dayo pulled away from the curb.
He did not look back at Luna’s car.
****
Michael had been asking for updates for almost an hour.
Every time someone came through the door, his attention went up.
Nothing.
His lawyer had already told him that the investigation was still moving slowly, that the authorities had not produced anything directly connecting him to the kidnapping, and that the people connected to the operation had disappeared.
Michael understood the danger of that more than most.
Missing people were dangerous.
They could talk.
They could disappear permanently.
They could become evidence.
He sat back in the small room and waited for another update.
When the door opened, he immediately looked up.
It was only an officer carrying paperwork.
Michael’s shoulders dropped slightly.
"Anything new?" he asked.
The officer shook his head. "Not that I’m aware of."
Michael nodded.
"Thank you."
The door closed again.
Across the city, Silas was having a similar experience.
He sat in the IRS holding facility, waiting for information that never seemed to arrive.
One of the privileges arranged for him allowed limited communication with people outside. He had already used it several times.
Nothing useful had come back.
The situation remained the same.
There was still no clear evidence tying him directly to the kidnapping.
There was still no public breakthrough.
There was still no indication that the authorities had found the people who had taken Jennifer.
Silas leaned back in his chair.
"Anything?" he asked when his contact finally answered.
"Nothing new."
Silas remained silent.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. The investigation is still active, but nobody has brought forward anything that changes your position."
Silas rubbed his forehead.
"And Michael?"
"Still the same."
Silas looked down at the table.
For all the chaos around them, the legal position had barely changed.
No new evidence.
No new witnesses.
No direct connection.
Nothing that could suddenly collapse everything.
That should have given him some relief.
Instead, he felt uneasy.
"Keep watching," he said. "If anything changes, I want to know immediately."
The call ended.
Silas remained where he was.
He did not know that Dayo had been sitting only a short distance away less than an hour earlier.
He did not know that Dayo had considered coming for him.
He did not know that Luna had arrived in time to stop it.
Michael did not know either.
Both men believed the situation was still under control because the evidence against them remained incomplete.
Neither understood how close the situation had come to changing.
For now, the investigation remained where it had been.
The kidnapping had failed to give them the leverage they wanted.
Jennifer was home.
Dayo had turned away.
And Michael and Silas were still waiting, unaware that the man they feared had already come close enough to reach them before choosing to walk away.